There is probably no subject in the world upon which
people entertain such erroneous ideas as that of the effect upon the mind of smoking
opium. The generally received opinion, and one to be found in most of the works of travel
in China, is that the smoker, having finished a few pipes, falls back in a heavy
death-like sleep that knows no waking until the effects have passed away, and that is
peopled with the most fascinating and pleasing dreams. Even Dickens errs in his ideas of
the effects of the drug when inhaled. It is extremely rare to find an opium-smoker
sleeping. Indeed, the opium keeps him awake many times, and it is of this inability to
sleep that he complains. The effect of the pipe is to produce a pleasant condition of
dreamy wakefulness, in which the smoker feels perfectly happy, at peace with himself and
all the world, ready to forgive his enemy, and do great things for his friend. It is a
state that approaches as closely as an American can ever come to the dolce far niente
of the Italian. A feeling of perfect rest and contentment steals over him, hope is
brightened, and he revels in enlarged and pleasing anticipation. When he rises, if he has
not smoked to great excess, he feels exhilarated, and walks with elasticity and rapidity.
Upon the hard bunk the things of to-day, the squalid surroundings, all fade away. This
waking dream, this silken garment of the imagination, will take its shape and coloring
from the most brilliant and cherished strands that are running through the web and woof of
his lifes story. At one and the same time it puts out of sight harsh realities, and
replaces them by a bubble whose play of colors and misty outlines are born of the pipe
alone.

American Opium SmokersOctober 8, 1881, page 684

That the smoker imagines himself immensely
wealthy or possessed of magnificent fame, that he thinks he has been in the
company of kings and princes, and that the world is a foot-ball at his feet, is
the most complete absurdity. I have talked with many habitués, both Americans
and Chinese, have seen them smoke, and have smoked with them, and have never yet
found one who had had such experience. As the smokers hopes, ambitions,
aspirations, and longings are, so will be the figures and incidents of his opium
reverie.

The pleasurable sensations that follow the first
stage, or that of moderate exhilaration or talkativeness, vary in duration
according to the temperament of the individual and the amount of the drug used.
Following it there may or may not be sleep, but it is never filled with dreams,
and rarely comes until the person goes to bed. Sleepers are rarely seen in a
"joint." Parties of two or three will be found grouped about each
tray, either listlessly thinking, cooking, and smoking, or chatting quietly and
indolently with one another. In some places there is loud talking from group to
group, singing, and occasional wine-drinking. This, however, is foreign to the
practice, and will heartily disgust a true smoker. The darkened room, the
subdued voices, the hissing and bubbling of the pipe, the aroma of the cooking
opium, and the different faces half lit by the dim light of the little opium
lamp, serve to impress a visitor with a sense of awe and astonishment.

Smoking to decided excess will sometimes produce deep
sleepa sleep, however, devoid of pleasing dreams, but pregnant with horrid
phantasmagoria and uncanny scenes that terrify and disgust the victim. Such effects often
come to the novice who pushes the indulgence too far. Hallucinations, delusions, labored
action of the heart, intense nausea and vomiting, and great prostration follow. This
happened to two of my nurses and myself. Some smokers are nauseated every time they
indulge for from three to six months, and still they persist; others are never troubled by
it.

The smoker finds after a time that the pleasurable
sensations of the first few months disappear, and he only smokes to avoid the terrible
suffering that usually accompanies the effort to abandon the practice. The good spirit of
the magical pipe has disappeared, giving place to a demon who binds his victim hand and
foot. The shackles that he has lazily and indolently riveted upon himself now refuse to be
unloosed, and he finds himself no longer drawn to his idol with silken cords, but driven
to continue a practice he loathes by the suffering so sure to follow its abandonment.
Pitiable indeed is such a one in his weakness.

The physical and mental ill effects of opium-smoking
manifest themselves in disinclination for continued mental effort, weakening of the
will-power, wavering in decision, loss of memory, emaciation, soreness of the eyes,
obstinate constipation, hemorrhoids, dyspepsia, catarrhal inflammation of the throat and
bowels, lassitude, impotence, and partial paralysis of the bladder.

Smoking to decided excess will sometimes produce deep
sleepa sleep, however, devoid of pleasing dreams, but pregnant with horrid
phantasmagoria and uncanny scenes that terrify and disgust the victim. Such effects often
come to the novice who pushes the indulgence too far. Hallucinations, delusions, labored
action of the heart, intense nausea and vomiting, and great prostration follow. This
happened to two of my nurses and myself. Some smokers are nauseated every time they
indulge for from three to six months, and still they persist; others are never troubled by
it.

The smoker finds after a time that the pleasurable
sensations of the first few months disappear, and he only smokes to avoid the terrible
suffering that usually accompanies the effort to abandon the practice. The good spirit of
the magical pipe has disappeared, giving place to a demon who binds his victim hand and
foot. The shackles that he has lazily and indolently riveted upon himself now refuse to be
unloosed, and he finds himself no longer drawn to his idol with silken cords, but driven
to continue a practice he loathes by the suffering so sure to follow its abandonment.
Pitiable indeed is such a one in his weakness.

The physical and mental ill effects of opium-smoking
manifest themselves in disinclination for continued mental effort, weakening of the
will-power, wavering in decision, loss of memory, emaciation, soreness of the eyes,
obstinate constipation, hemorrhoids, dyspepsia, catarrhal inflammation of the throat and
bowels, lassitude, impotence, and partial paralysis of the bladder.

The effect financially is very bad indeed. The process of
cooking and smoking taking, for full satisfaction, a number of hours each day, business is
almost invariably neglected, and the devotee, if he continues, becomes ruined. The opium
pipe, with the accompanying indolence, is one of the greatest thieves of time. A hard
smoker will spend most of the day and night in a joint.

A curious point in this connection is that those smokers
who have opium and a full outfit at home prefer to smoke in the low joints, partly from
the companions to be found there, partly because they seem to get a more decided effect
from the constantly used pipes and in the smoke-loaded atmosphere of these places. An
habitué who smokes to excess is called a "fiend."

The Chinese have an idea that when a woman has once smoked
from a pipe it becomes worthless, failing to color, and being liable to split. For this
reason female smokers are always given the poorest pipes in the place.

An ordinary smoker will consume about three drachms of
smoking opium (equal in strength to six drachms of crude opium) in a day. This will cost
him from fifty to seventy-five cents. "Fiends" have been known to smoke as much
as a pound and a quarter a day.

Some idea of the extent to which opium is smoked by white
men in this country may be gained from the fact that actors and travelling salesmen who
have been in every town of any importance say that they have never found a city yet, East
or West, where smoking places were not to be found, and where from one to twenty whites,
male and female, were smoking. Dr. Remondino, of San Francisco, Dr. Shurtleff, of
Stockton, California, Dr. Papin, of St. Louis, and Dr. Harris, of Virginia City, Nevada,
assure me that the practice is rapidly spreading in spite of the most stringent laws,
imposing heavy fines and imprisonment, having been passed. In San Francisco so great did
the evil become, so many women and young girls were led to these opium-houses and taught
smoking and other evil practices, that in 1876 it was found necessary to pass a city
ordinance, under which arrests are constantly being made. The only effect has been to
scatter the smokers, and close the more public places. Smoking, however, is going on just
the same.

The following table, obtained through the great kindness
of Joseph Nimmo, Esq., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, Washington,
shows how large are the quantities of smoking opium that have entered this country in the
past ten years. Smoking opium is readily distinguished, in the returns, from gum opium
from the fact that the duty on the former is $6, while that on the latter is but $1 per
pound.

Fiscal Year
ending

June 30.

Pounds

Value

1871

37,824.00

$353,334.00

1872

49,375.00

535,596.52

1873

53,059.00

581,656.20

1874

55,343.75

556,884.00

1875

62,774.66

662,066.00

1876

53,189.42

577,288.51

1877

47,427.94

502,662.27

1878

54,804.78

617,160.20

1879

60,647.67

643,774.00

1880

77,196.00

773,796.00

It will thus be seen what an immense amount of smoking
opium, none of which leaves this country for other ports, is being used here. An increase
of over 17,000 pounds in this last year of a drug intended solely to pander to a vice is
indeed startling. That this increase is not due to an increase in the number of Chinamen
in the United States may be seen by the following figures: *According to the census of
1870 there was in this country a Chinese population of 62,736. According to Mr. Alfred
Wheeler, who testified before the congressional committee, the Chinese arrivals and
departures were as follows from 1870 to October 1, 1876:

Year

Arrivals

Departures

Gain

1870

10,869

4,232

6,637

1871

5,542

3,264

2,278

1872

9,773

4,887

4,886

1873

17,975

6,805

10,270

1874

16,085

7,710

8,375

1875

18,021

6,305

11,716

1876

13,914

3,481

10,433

Total

91,279

36,684

54,595

The Chinese population at the end of 1876 would have been,
then, 62,736 plus 54, 595, or a total of 117,331. A deduction of two per cent for the
death rate leaves 104,731. The AltaCalifornia newspaper carries the figures
on from 1876, as follows:

Year

Arrivals

Departures

Gain

Loss

1877

9,906

7,852

2054

1878

7,418

6,512

906

1879

6,544

6,906

362

Total

23,868

21,270

2960

362

Deaths
(estimated at two per cent
on

population
of 100,000).

6000

Gain, 2960, less 362

2598

3402

This gives us an actual falling off in population to the
number of 3402.

Our census of 1880 gives us a Chinese population of
105,440. With an actual falling off in population, or a condition of standstill, how can
we account for the enormous increase in the amount of smoking opium reaching us in the
past few years, and more especially the last year? In 1879, with a falling off of 3402 in
the number of Chinamen in this country, there was an increase of 5843 pounds in the
smoking opium imported, an increase of 7377 pounds in 1878 over that imported in 1877.
Thus, with a falling off of 3402 in Chinese population from October, 1876, to 1880, there
was an increase of 7456 pounds of smoking opium. The increase in ten years time
(1870-1880) amounts to 39,372 pounds.

At a low estimate we have 4000 Americans smoking this
drug. As an average we may safely say that each smoker consumes 100 grains of opium daily.
Multiplying this by the number of smokers, we have 400,000 grains daily, and this by the
number of days in a year gives us 146,000,000 grains, or about 19,000 pounds.

At a low estimate we may say that ten per cent of the
adult Chinamen in America smoke regularly. This would give us 10,544 Chinamen smoking; and
supposing each to consume daily 100 grains, we have a total for the year of 50,240 pounds.
We have here probably underestimated the number of Americans and Chinamen smoking, and the
amount smoked. In any event, taking Americans and Chines smokers together, we get a yearly
total of 69, 240 pounds of smoking opium consumed.

Besides the opium imported for smoking, some is smuggled
by Chinamen coming to this country, some is made here from crude opium by the keepers of
the lower-class dens; and No. 2, a mixture of the ash left after smoking No. 1 and crude
opium, boiled together and filtered, is also used. Ordinary smoking opium leaves
thirty-three per cent of ash, which is very powerful, six grains sufficing to paralyze a
rabbit when injected under its skin.

A lover of his kind must needs view with no little
apprehension the spread of so seductive a vice, and one that, despite the most stringent
measures for its suppression, is spreading rapidly in all parts of this country. While it
is true that this manner of narcotic intoxication is neither so injurious nor so rapid in
its effects as the use of the drug by the mouth or hypodermically, still it is
sufficiently injurious to demand careful study and attention. Those frightful pictures of
thin, cadaverous, sallow-faced Chinamen, just on the brink of the grave, as depicted by
many as the result of excessive opium-smoking, I have never yet seen amongst Americans.
Indeed, as a class, they are stout and healthy, although having smoked the drug for from
two to ten years.

Between opium-smoking and chronic alcoholism there can be
no comparison whatever, the latter working by far the greater physical, moral, and
financial ruin in a shorter time. Moreover, those ill effects that result from inordinate
smoking are felt by the individual alone. He never beats his wife in his frenzy, destroys
furniture, shoots his friend, or stabs his enemy; he does not go reeling through the
street to fall at last an inert mass in the gutter, there to sleep off the debauch, unless
disturbed and locked up by a policeman.

It must be remembered, however, that, like the alcoholic
inebriate, and unlike the morphia injector, he has not the excuse of sleepless nights or
agonizing pain to drive him to the practice, but deliberately and willfully walks into a
bondage simply to satisfy a morbid appetite. Opium, however used, is a drug that can not
be trifled with, and one that binds firmer than any bands that man can weave.

*Seward. Chinese Immigration in its
Social and Economical Aspects. New York: 1881.